Friday 5/3/24
The curse of the 65 wins lives on. With their Game 6 regulation loss on the road, the current edition of the Bruins continued the perfect replication of last year's first round series: home-win, home-loss, road-win, road-win, home-loss in OT, road-loss.
I would never root against a Boston team and I want to see the Bruins win Saturday night here in Boston, but I won't feel at all bad if they lose. They deserve to and I don't have much respect for them.
Some key stats from last night's game that tell a lot of the story:
The Bruins had 1 shot on goal in the entire first period. A single damn shot. That says a lot, doesn't it? These Maple Leafs aren't the 1977 Canadiens defensively. What this speaks to is the Bruins, as a whole, being a tightly wound ball of anxiety.
The Bruins lost 37% of the face-offs.
Pavel Zacha--who is often Mr. Useless--won 10% of his draws. Thanks for that, sir.
Charlie McAvoy, who as I said is a slightly above average NHL defenseman--at best--was a -2, the worst on the team. The score was 2-1 and he was a -2? But star defenseman, right? Cornerstone player? Sure.
Here's what has to happen: You need to overhaul this roster. Change the personality of "the group," a term I hate, because I think it facilitates softness and enabling. Be a team, not a group. Out with the huggy-wuggy, in with some balls.
This is what happens when you have a team that does a ceremonial hug after games. This is who they are. Weak chokers. You just had the biggest choke in NHL history after winning 65 games. This won't be at that level even if it does happen, but you can't blow 3-1 series leads to the Leafs. Down their best player for the second straight game, no less. With their back-up goalie in net. And no defense. And their own softness issues.
I don't want to see Jake DeBrusk again. I don't need to see Zacha. Move Charlie McAvoy. Start there. Trade his overrated ass, because people, for some reason, talk about him like he's good, and you can get something. Change the culture. Change the identity.
If the Bruins lose on Saturday, Jim Montgomery will be fired and in a few months he'll be standing behind the bench of another NHL team. He'll coach next year. Somewhere.
And no, I'm not being literal with the curse thing. That always bothered me about the Red Sox. "Yeah, bro, they broke the curse." It's less uncanny that these games are paralleling each other than it is a reliable indicator of who these Bruins are. Think about this: If they do lose Saturday night, that would mean that in consecutive series that went seven games, they lost three at home each time.
As for Saturday night, I don't know. Up in the air. Fifty-fifty? If something goes the Bruins' way early, they might be okay, but what would that mean? How far can you go being this flawed in your psychological make-up? Look at some of these teams, too. Strong, hungry. Not scared.
There are no other games on Saturday night, so the NHL is happy to have this one, I'm sure. It's an eight o'clock start, which means the Bruins have a bit longer to think about things and stress themselves out more. Then again, it would also be so Leafs-like to lose 5-1.
But even in the Battle of the Chokers, someone has to win, I guess.
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